There have been many different kinds of cards as media for a wide variety of information. It has been a common practice to acquire or store various information from or onto a card inserted into a card connector connected to an information appliance.
In prior art card connectors, contacts are arranged correspondingly to cards which are able to be inserted into the card connector, respectively, in one-to-one relationship, and the contacts each at least comprise a contact portion adapted to contact the card, a holding portion held in a housing, and a connection portion to be connected to a substrate. Such card connectors are disclosed in the following Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2003-31,861) and Patent Literature 2 (Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-161,293).
Patent Literature 1
According to the Abstract of the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2003-31,861, this invention has an object to provide a card connector for integrated circuit (IC) cards having a push-in and push-out mechanism common to plural kinds of cards to achieve the miniaturization in overall shape of the connector. In a card connector for IC cards including a housing having an inserting opening common to plural kinds of IC cards, into which an IC card is inserted to bring the electrode of the IC card into connection with the contacts in the inserting opening, the housing includes therein a slider adapted to advance or retract in conjunction with push-in and push-out operations of the IC card in the housing, and a locking mechanism for locking the slider and the IC card when the push-in is effected and for releasing the locking when the push-out is effected, whereby a shape and a position are set in the slider depending upon the width, length and front shape of the IC card, positions of electrodes of the IC card, and positions of the contacts relative to the housing, thereby enabling the slider to engage the IC card in compliance with shapes of the plural kinds of IC cards. FIGS. 1 and 2 of the Patent Literature 1 illustrate contacts each corresponding to respective card in one-to-one relationship.
Patent Literature 2
According to the Abstract of the Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-161,293 filed by the applicant of the present case, the invention has an object to provide a card connector which, after one card has been inserted, is capable of preventing a further card from being inserted and easy to design its housing and easy to remove a card and achieves its miniaturization without any limitation in circuit design of substrates and without any obstruction to the high density of conductors. In a card connector including a required number of contacts adapted to contact connection portions of a plurality of memory cards and a housing having a plurality of inserting openings for receiving a plurality of memory cards, respectively, and arranging and holding the contacts therein, the card connector comprises at least one locking member located at a predetermined position on the housing and pivotable or movable when one kind of card is inserted, and at least one spring member displaceable when one kind of card is inserted, thereby permitting only one kind of card to be inserted with the aid of the locking member and the spring member. FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 of the Patent Literature 2 show contacts each correspond to respective card in one-to-one relationship.
In recent years, miniaturizations have proceeded in the information appliances as well as substrates or boards used therein so that areas occupied by the substrates have become narrower. Such a limitation of areas occupied by the substrates leads to the use of a plurality of substrates. Moreover, if a plurality of connectors is required for exchanging a plurality of memory cards, information appliances would become bulky which would be inconvenient for carrying them. Consequently, card connectors for receiving a plurality of cards have been proposed as in the Patent Literatures 1 and 2.
The card connectors disclosed in the Patent Literatures 1 and 2 suffer several disadvantages from plural kinds of contacts necessarily required correspondingly to a plurality of cards to be inserted, complicated arrangement of connection portions of the contacts, and difficulties in assembling operationality and mounting operation by a customer. Moreover, as the plural kinds of contacts are required corresponding to the number of cards, areas occupied by the substrates will increase, resulting in limitation of freedom for design of the substrate and connector.